Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 February 2017
91. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the plans for the Magdalen laundry at Sean McDermott Street, Dublin 1; if there are plans to sell it; and, if so, the reason. [9067/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn Inter-Departmental Committee was set up in 2011 to establish the facts of the State's involvement with the Magdalen Laundries. It was chaired by then Senator Martin McAleese and it is commonly referred to as the McAleese report. The material in the Report relates to 10 different institutions which were run by 4 different Orders of nuns over a period of 70 years.
Chapter 3 of the McAleese Report gives the history of the of the Magdalene Laundry on Sean McDermott street which became the responsibility of, and was operated by, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. The Laundry closed in 1996. At no time was the laundry, or the land on which it was sited, the responsibility of my Department or, indeed, of any Government Department. I understand that in recent years the site was handed over to Dublin City Council by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity.
